Dental floss is widely used as a means of interdental cleaning which supplements brushing. Although flossing, or the process of cleaning between one's teeth with dental floss, is becoming very common, many people find it inconvenient to use their floss regularly for lack of regular flossing habits and lack of convenient access to dental floss.
The makers of dental floss dispensers have, for this reason, tried their best to provide small containers of dental floss which may be easily stored or carried with the user. A good example is the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,766 by Stallard which is easily transported in a user's pocket or stored in a medicine cabinet in one's bathroom. Somewhat larger devices, such as that disclosed by Aronson (U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,815) were disclosed earlier and are somewhat larger, but provide the same general function. It will be appreciated, however, that the convenience of a floss dispenser resulting from its small size is relative, and that no matter how conveniently sized a dispenser is, it is always easy to put away in a place where it is easily forgotten.
Other dispensers have been designed so that one's dental floss is not so easily forgotten. For example, Shalek (U.S. Pat. No. 1,455,673) discloses a dental floss dispenser which is attachable to a flat surface such as a bathroom wall, and is designed to remain in one place where it can be visible, and therefore especially convenient and present in one's mind when the user returns to that one place. In this way, the Shalek dispenser provides a convenient reminder to the user to floss his or her teeth whenever the user returns to the place where the dispenser is attached. Unfortunately, the receptacle is designed to accept an uncovered spool of floss which can result in problems related to lack of dryness or cleanliness when transferring new spools of floss into the receptacle to replenish the floss when it has run out.
Accordingly, a need exists for a dental floss dispenser system which can be attached to a wall, placed on a desk or other surface, or carried in a pocket or a purse, and can provide a renewable source of dental floss provided in a convenient manner which will assure users that the floss is clean and dry. The present invention provides a solution to this and other problems and also offers other advantages over the prior art, and solves other problems associated therewith.